Inspection Picture of the Day - No Trap, Rust and lots of ..... Stuff from a Home Inspection in Austin, Texas

In the course of my duties as a Home Inspector I run into lots of Stuff! One thing I have to contend with on most every inspection I conduct is clutter. And, one of the most popular places for clutter is under the sinks.

I don't know why but these secluded spots are most often overlooked when people decide to sell their home. As a result, it seems, more stuff gets crammed under the sink than gets taken out.

Here are a couple of pictures from a Home Inspection in Austin, Texas that I completed last week. See if you can identify any "problems".

I had to move a bunch of items to reveal this. A trapless drain under the kitchen sink.

I did a little more digging beneath that kitchen sink and found this. A small water heater. Covered with more stuff!

At the end of the trail I found that the water heater's relief valve was plumbed to a heavily rusted pan. The pan is at the end of it's useful life and the two year old water heater will most likely need to be replaced soon. The reason....it's sitting in about a quarter inch of water and is beginning to rust away just like the pan in which it sits.

I know that when sellers put their home on the market they do a lot of things to make their home more attractive. The space under the sinks seem to be forgotten about. But, this space on this inspection got a lot more attention than the seller was probably expecting. Everyone there eventually stuck their head under the sink ..... me, the buyer, then the buyer's agent followed by the seller's agent and finally the seller himself.

I love wandering down in to a cellar that in the spring is flooded with a foot of water in some places prone to water from poor drainage, poor soils or a sump pump that is not plugged in to handle it. You think of about eletrocution as you roll up your pant legs, remove shoes to wade over to figure out why that sump pump isn't doing it's job. ZAP. Brokers need to wear rubber sneakers to be safe in some places.

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